Process for producing carbids.



UNITED I REMO CATANI, OF ROME, ITALY.

raocnss FOB rnopucme caaBms.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 18, 1909.

Application filed January 16, 1908. Serial No. 296,210.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Reno CATANI, subject of the King of Italy, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes for Producing Carbids, of which the following is a specification.

In the electric furnaces, refractory materials, as oxids, are melted with carbon in order to obtain the pure metal or the carbid of the metal, and the like. The oxid is separated into its elements; metal and oxygen, by the action of the electricity in the hottest part of the furnace and till it has reached this part it is not altered; carbon, on the contrary, in the high temperature of the furnace is transformed artially into carbon monoxid and dioxid before reacting on the metallic compound and when the metal is detached from oxygen another part of carbon is wasted. The cost of carbon isthe greatest art of the entire cost of the product and it 1s very useful to reduce the consumption of carbon. In order to attain this object,I employthe carbon of the charge coated with a mixture of refractory material. which is different for the different products to be ob-' tained from'the electro-metallurgical o rations, and I only employ the quantity 0 carbon strictly necessary for the formation of the product. as already stated.

Operatin in the common way, a mixture of carbon metallurgic coke, anthracite, re tort coke or any other kind of carbon) with a metal oxid (oxid of silicon or of the earth alkaline metals etc.) is placed in the furnace, the metallupgical reactions take place in the following or er: 1. Separation o oxid (lime (a0 is separated in Ca and O). 2. Combination in the zone of the highest temperature of the metal with a part of the carbon of the mixture for forming the carbid of the metal (carbid of calcium CaO,,' carbid of silicon SiC). 3. Combination of the oxygen from the metal oxid with another part of the carbon ofthe mixture for forming carbon monoxid in the less hot zone of the furnace. Now this patent application does not refer residing at Rome, Italy,

- bid is 6250 ca to the electrolfisis of calcium oxid" but interprets the we known formula- 1. CaO+30==CaC,+CO

in a very different nianner, namely that the separation of the oxid must take place according to the other formula 2. CaO+2C=CaC,+O.

This reaction takes place only by thermal effect either by alternatin or b direct current independently there ore o electrolytic phenomena. It is possible however that the electrolysis takes p ace by direct current because some facts observed in the manufacture of carbid by means of direct and alternating current would induce to believe that the electrolysis of calcium oxid CaO is more easily effected by direct than by alternating current.

The ap a. That tl ie reaction 2 is the reaction 2 is more pro action 1. y

A. The energy required to separate 56 k of calcium oxid 18 131,500 calories (of. T086151 W. Richards Metallurgical-Calculations New York,McGraw Publishing (30., 1906, page 15) the energy reqluired to produce 64 kg. of carories (see same page 21); the smelting heat of limestone is 6873 calories-- total 144,623 calories. To this amount of heat must be added the calories required to heat 56 kg. of limestone and 24 kg. of coal from 0 to 3000 1nelting temperature of limestone. (Moissan Electric Furnace translated by A. T. de Monilpied, London, Adward Arnold 1904 age 204). These quantities are respectively 40,572 and 28,697 calories reckoned following the most recent data for the specific heats of lime and coal (J. W. Richards id., pages 62 and'98) However only a part of this energy licant proposes to demonstrate:

ossible. able than the reb: That must be added to the heat of chemical comyield calories and heat the mixture: we will 1. Calcium oXid is very lixed as it may he- )roved by its rcducive qualities (cf. |)elepine,

cs Cal-burrs .ll'dalligucs A. Joanin. Paris. 21 line de Condo 190% page 54) even with regard to highly refractory substances as alumina (cf. Moissan Electric Furnace 1904 page 219). It is not possible therelm-e that calcitnn oxid be dissociated to give place to carbonous oxid less fixed at lower temperatures (cf. Berthclot). Moreover t-nrbid retains so-firmly a part of its carbon and yields the other part at so high a temperatu re as not to allow the formation of carbonous oxid. In fact Calcium carbid burns in oxygen at a dull red heat, forming calciumcarbonate (of. Moissan id. page 208).

2. Calcium has a great affinity for carbon.

Moissan established that lime, melts at about 3000 independentlyfrom, and even in the absence of, carbon and that carbid is formed atabout 3500 as soon as carbon comes into contactwith molten lime and the temperatureis raised (Moissan Electric Furnaces id. page 287). Maquenne has obtained carbid by heating calcium carbonate, magnesium andcoal (1893 Ann. Chem. ct Ph st. 28 page 287). .Carbonoxid cannot exist on account of the high temperature and of the action of the current. Berthelot (Annales de Chimie at de Physique 7me Serie t, XVI p. 211899) has demonstrated that under the lnfluence of electricity carbonous oXid is thus transformed i and this suboxid is solid, brown colored and amorphous. soluble in water and absolute alcohol, insoluble in ether. This oXid is formed in electric furnaces but never in the hotter zone .of same i. e. inIthe active zone where therefore it is impossible for carbonous oxid to be formed. The reaction est-0+ so can +co is reversible as has been demonstratedby Frank and Caros recent discoveries. Lime melts at a temperature lower than that required tor the formation of cal-hid and in this.

sur Zcs Variations dc Rendcment du Oarbure dc Calcium IIIme Cong res International de ZAcct'g Zcne tcn u a Paris du 22 and 28 Septcmb'rc 1900. page 193.) Gin in one of hlS monographs (Zeitschrift Elclctro Okc'mie i Vol. VIII page 397) has given the following further arguments to prove that the reaction between (a0 and C inorder to produce carbid be this f (laO +2C=CaC +O rather than the other which is more commonly known. It corresponds better to the practical pro )orlions employed in industry. "the reinarkaiile consumption of electrodes is owing to oxygen which is produced in the furnace, in tead to the surrounding air, because the pressure CZHhU-(l by the reaction in the hotter zone prevents the surrounding air from coming in. 'l he said carbon oXid is totally or partial y transformed into carbon dioxitl it the furnace presen s comparatively cool zones and in contact with the air or other oxidizing medium (open furnaces); or remains unt'lnangetl'il the furnace is entirely at high temperature and excluded from the action of air or other oxidizing medium (closed furnaces). l or the carbids the quantity of carbon of the mixture is therefore the sum of the arbon necessary for the formation of tliemarhitl of the metal introduced in the furnace in the condition of oxid, and of the carbon necessary for saturating the oxygen from the separated oXitLf 1f the oxygen formed or if the carbonis coated with a suit able refractory material so as'to be protected from the action of theox the quantity of carbon to be introducecl in the electric furnace is reduced to that necessary to the formation of car-bid. y

My rocess consists in first coating the carbon oi the mixture With a refractory material, second putting into the mixture only the carbon necessary for the formation of carbid, and third usin'g such refractory material, that While protecting the carbon until it is out of the zone of the highest temperature (zone of electro-thermo-chemical reacbe slakedlime in the case of calcium carbi silica or silicates in the case'of carborundum', etc. In performing my process the mixture is placed preferably. inangelectric furnace, but it may be placed in any-"other furnace capable of producing high temperatures. The process has also the advantage of rendering the mixture insulating, thus preventing the t'teleterioushr wasted the furnace. If a 1 metal in lieu of being in the condition of oXid,

is introduee'dinto the furnace in the {condi- 1 tion of carbonate, thelatter isreduced to tion) it does not alter the purity of the rod-' not obtained. This refractory materla ma can escape from the furnace as soon as it is current from being uselesslyv and sometimes oxid before reaching the zone of reaction,

. I s Heretoforethc chemical reaction was believed to be (JaO 3C Catt, ()0.

- My researches have demonstrated that the reactions take place in the following order It i true that oxygen, carbon monoxid, and dioxid escape from the electric furnace.

The first reaction takes place in the hottest art of the electrical furnace, the second in a ess hot part and the third. in a still less hot part. When the carbon of the mixture is coated with slaked lime, the second and third reaction cannot take place, and the mixture ought to be calculated from the first chemical equation.

Applying my process to the production of carborundu'm, the mixture ought to be calculated according to the equation My invention relates also to the direct process to make cyanamid salts by means of carbon, lime and nitrogen. In this case placing in the mixture the carbon coated with slaked lime, the weight of the carbon is one half of the weight of carbon necessary to make calcium cyanamid according to the known process such as is described in U. S. Patent No. 757,185 A ril 14, 1904.- The weight of carbon to p ace in the mixture accordingly with my process is as the following equation.

And in this way oxygen is generated in the furnace.

If the furnace is without electrodes or with electrodes of a substance not capable of being attacked by oxygen, the process may be applied directly, whereas when the electrodes are apt to be attacked by oxygen, they are coated with the same refractory material used for coating the carbon of the mixture, or an outlet is formed for the oxygen, keeping the tapping hole of melting furnaces open. The powerful pressure existing in the crucible of the furnace permits the oxygen to escape rapidly as soon as the outlet is opened, which may also be facilitated by suction.

Having now fully described my invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1. The process of 'making carbid compounds consisting in coating carbon with a compound containing part of the element that is to form the carbid, and placing such coated carbon in an electric furnace and also placing in the furnace the element to form the carbid, the electrodes in the furnace being coated with the same compound.

2. The process of making carbid compounds consisting in coating the carbon with a compound containing part of the element that is to combine with the compound to form the carbid, such com ound also containing oxygen, placing suc coated carbon into an electric furnace and also placing in the furnace the said element to combine with the carbon to form the carbid, the electrodes in the furnace being coated with the same compound.

3. The process of making calcium carbid compounds consisting in coating the carbon with a refractory material, and placing such carbon and also lime in an electrlc furnace.

4. The process of making calcium carbid compounds consisting in coating the carbon with slaked lime and placing such coated carbon and also slaked ime into an electric furnace.

5. The process of making calcium carbid compounds consisting in coating the carbon with slaked lime and placing such coated carbon and also slaked lime into an electric furnace, the electrodes in the furnace being also coated with slaked lime.

6. The process of making calcium carbid compounds consisting in coating the carbon with a refractory material, and placing such carbon and also lime into an electric furnace,

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing wltnesses.

REMO CATANI.

Nitnesses A. RAZG, P10 RINALDINI. 

